Barro negro ("black clay")
A more than 2,000-year-old Zapotec and Mixtec pottery tradition using a naturally dark clay mined near San Bartolo Coyotepec, Oaxaca, hand-built without a potter's wheel using a pre-Hispanic two-saucer turning method, transformed in the 1950s from a matte gray utilitarian ware into the glossy, jet-black decorative form now internationally recognized, through a burnishing technique discovered by a single local artisan.
Risk level: Vulnerable · Not currently inscribed on a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list; Mexico is a State Party to the UNESCO 2003 Convention and could nominate this technique in the future
The construction of the silla charra — the distinctive Mexican charro saddle, engineered with a characteristically high pommel and cantle and a deep seat specifically designed to provide the security needed for charrería's demanding…
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